Dragon Quest IX: Charles the Mighty Hero
by iSouf
Summary: Charles was once a Celestrian who guarded the village of Angel Falls. After becoming a mortal after a series of events, Charles soon finds himself in a journey to recover Fyggs and maybe even save the world.


Charles rose his head, opening his eyes. He was in a small lake formed at the base of a rather small waterfall. The sound of the water falling soothed him, yet he still had a headache that made him stumble as he tried to get out of the lake. He looked up, and saw a blurry image of a girl with purple hair under a vague image of an orange bandana. She grabbed hold of Charles's arm, and that's the last thing he remembered.

Three days passed, and Charles recovered from his accident. He learned that he had fallen from the top of the waterfall and luckily survived. The girl, Erinn, nursed Charles back to health, telling him how lucky he was.

Charles remembered falling from the Observatory high up in the sky after a large storm, and noticed that he had lost his Celestrian wings and halo. He was saddened by this, and during the next three days, Charles had ruffled his brown, smooth hair over and over, trying to get a signal of a Celestrian halo atop of it.

Now he was used to not having wings and halo. He was used to walking full time now, having the earth touch his feet every second of the day. He got to know the locals of Angel Falls, the town which housed the waterfall Charles had fallen in.

Priesten, the local Priest of Angel Falls Church, was particularly friendly to Charles. He obtained bread from Priesten after visiting the church to pray to The Almighty One to get his wings and halo back. They made small-talk about the weather, then Charles quickly left after Ferr, a local fisherman, barged in yelling with a sack of fish in his hand. Charles liked Priesten a lot, and didn't bother the whole hour he went rambling on about his daughter Priesta, and how she had graduated from Swinedimples Academy and became a Priest, just like him.

"Hey, it's that Charles guy that turned up the other day." a boy said rather loudly. Charles was studying the Guardian Statue near the waterfall, and the boy interrupted his thinking. The boy was Ivor, a blonde, tall kid who was the son of the mayor. Next to him was a shorter kid, named Hugo,

"What are you doing, staring into space like that?" said Ivor, then he turned to Hugo, looking at Charles at the corner of his eye every now and then. "I don't know what Erinn is doing with Charles. We don't know where he's from and his clothes are weird. I can't trust him, and Erinn shouldn't either."

"Erinn's probably just attached to him because his name's the same as the village Guardian." said Hugo.

"I doubt Charles's is even his real name. I bet he's just a wandering Minstrel up to no good," Ivor shook his head at Charles, giving him a look of disgust. "Charles, if that's even your real name, I won't let you get away with any business in my village! I'm watching you."

"Yeah! Ivor's watching you real hard! He doesn't like that Erinn's paying attention to you more than him, so he won't take his eyes off you!" Hugo exclaimed. Ivor slapped him on the chest and Hugo fell back.

"Ivor!" Erinn yelled as she approached the three boys. She dusted the white apron on her blue dress before scolding Ivor. "Why are you hitting Hugo? And why are you bothering Charles?"

Ivor turned red. "Um, well, I was telling Charles some village rules, so I wasn't bothering him. I hit Hugo because he was lying about this stupid rule about medicinal herbs. Anyway, we were just leaving." Ivor took Hugo by the arm and walked away.

Erinn sighed. "Ivor..he's not like what he used to be. Anyway, I'm going to make supper soon. Stay out if you like. I heard Priesten's daughter has visited, maybe you should go to the church and meet her." Erinn walked to her small, wooden, two-story house, leaving Charles to himself again.

_These people are so odd, _Charles thought. He was never a talkative person, and he liked to keep to himself. He let the bird songs and water drop sounds consume his mind once again, and he walked to Angel Falls Church. Inside, there were three pews in two columns. An old woman, who Charles had helped when he was a Celestrian, was talking to Priesten.

"Your daughter graduated from Swinedimples? My, what a lovely academy! She must be a great Priest!" Helga, the old woman, said cheerfully as she squeezed little Priesta's cheeks. Priesten told Charles that Priesta was eighteen, but was the size of a fourteen year old. This turned out to be true, as Charles was the same age but way taller.

"Thank you ma'm." replied Priesta. She was wearing a plain dress and leather shoes, and had a bamboo lance strapped to her back. _Interesting_, Charles thought, and he took note of the bronze sword strapped to his back. Priesten smiled at Helga, then caught glance of Charles, and smiled.

"Charles! Please, come meet Priesta!" Priesten took hold of Charles's hand and rushed towards Priesta.

"Hello, I'm Priesta. Pleasure to meet you!" said Priesta. Her voice was high and bubbly, like a little girl's, and she had long, blonde hair that reached to her middle back. Her green eyes matched the green Priest tapestry above a candle at the back of the church.

"Hi, I'm Charles." replied Charles. He felt rather uncomfortable that he was in plain clothes and sandals while Priesten, Priesta, and Helga were in nice, expensive clothes. Priesta nodded, then looked at the clock awkwardly. Charles nodded back, then waved.

"Sorry, but I must go. Erinn's supper is probably done by now." he said, and Priesten nodded. "Oh, well goodbye Charles! See you tomorrow." Charles waved once again and pushed the church doors open. He took a fresh breath of air, and began to make his way to Erinn's house when he stepped on something. He looked down, and he saw that it was Ivor's shoe. He must have lost it while running to his house. He made his way to the mayor's house, and he heard a loud argument inside.

"Isn't it about time you do something useful for once?" Ivor's father yelled angrily. "You could learn from Erinn; at least she does work at the inn!"

"What's Erinn got to do with this? Anyway, I'm trying to find something that I can do. When I figure out what it is, I'll work my butt off!" said Ivor.

Charles thought about not knocking on the door, but did it anyway. Ivor answered the door quickly. "What are you doing here?" he asked. He spotted his shoe in Charles's hand, and took it.

"I heard the argument between you and your dad. Maybe you can help Erinn out at the inn as a job." said Charles, and Ivor took a step back.

"You heard that? Uh...please don't tell Erinn! Please!" Ivor begged, then he looked around, then shut the door in Charles's face. He turned around and walked to Erinn's house, where a plate of steak and potatoes was waiting for him.

"Delicious!" Erinn's grandfather licked his lips, and digged in. Erinn giggled, then gave Charles's a look. "You should eat soon, it'll help with your energy!" she said, and Charles did as she said.

That night, Charles's mind raced. He was the Guardian of Angel Falls, yet he was now a mortal. He was supposed to be collecting benevolessence, but now it's impossible for him to do so. He had a flashback of him offering benevolessence up to Yggdrasil, a tree in the Observatory that would bear Fyggs once it had enough benevolessence to make it blossom. Everything was fine, until purple lightning struck, and soon Charles was swept from the Observatory and was falling into the Protectorate, the mortal's world. He had fallen in Angel Falls, which is where he was now. Charles sighed. He missed being a Celestrian. He didn't know what to do now that he was a mortal.

_Oh well_, he thought. _Let's see how my life unfolds in the Protectorate._


End file.
